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Last of Karl Karlsen's 9-hour interrogation by police to be shown in court

Karl Karlsen is Indicted on Four Additional Charges

Karl Karlsen arrives at the Seneca County Courthouse in Waterloo May 14 to face four additional charges in the death of his son. Karlsen's attorney, Lawrence Kasperek, is on the right. The final portion of Karlsen's 9-hour interrogation by police is expected to be played in court Monday.
(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

The final portion of murder suspect Karl Karlsen's nine-hour interrogation by police -- including the segment in which he signs a statement about his role in his son's death -- is expected to be shown in Seneca County Court this morning.

At the conclusion of the interrogation the day after Thanksgiving, Karlsen gave sheriff's deputies and state police a one-page statement about Levi Karlsen's death in 2008. After giving the statement, Karlsen was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the death of his son.

Authorities have not released details of the statement, but the district attorney plans to use it at Karlsen's trial scheduled for October. In a jailhouse interview with The Post-Standard just three weeks after giving that statement, Karlsen said he could not remember what was in it.

Karlsen is charged with killing Levi in November 2008 by knocking a pickup truck onto Levi's chest as the younger man worked beneath Karl Karlsen's truck. Court documents say Karl Karlsen propped up the pickup truck himself onto jacks, and then turned up the radio "to mask any sounds" before causing the truck to fall onto his son.

The interrogation is being shown in open court because Karlsen's attorney, Larry Kasperek, requested a hearing aimed at having Karlsen's statement tossed out. The first part of the hearing was held July 2 and 3.

Seneca County Court Judge Dennis Bender is reviewing the interrogation to see if the police violated Karlsen's Constitutional rights to have a lawyer present and if the statements he made were given voluntarily.

In addition to second-degree murder, Karlsen is also being charged with insurance fraud and concealing a will.

This is a copy of the will authorities say Levi Karlsen wrote out by hand and then had notarized just hours before his death. His father, Karl Karlsen, who collected a $700,000 life insurance policy after Levi's death, has been charged with murder.

During his long interrogation with police, Karlsen at first says his son was alive and working on the truck when Karl and his wife, Cindy, left for a funeral. Several hours into the interrogation, however, Karlsen says that he had found his son dead before leaving for the funeral.

"I did not kill Levi, but he was dead when I went in there," Karlsen said.

Karlsen told investigators he left the barn and attended the funeral without telling anyone his son was dead.

Three weeks after his police interview, however, Karlsen gave The Post-Standard a different version of events. Karlsen said on Dec. 14 that Levi had been alive when Karl and Cindy left for the funeral. Before leaving for the funeral, Karlsen said, he stopped in the garage to slip Levi $50 for working on his truck.

When Karl and Cindy Karlsen returned about four hours later, he told The Post-Standard, Karl Karlsen opened the garage door and saw that the truck had slipped off the big railroad jack. Levi's feet were sticking out.

"He was cold. He was blue," Karlsen said. "My wife came out, she knelt down, we're both crying."

Karlsen's attorney is also asking to exclude from the trial two secret audio recordings of Karl Karlsen made by his wife last November. Those recordings are expected to be taken up in court when the hearing continues Aug. 2.

Seneca County Investigators have also asked Karlsen questions about the death of his first wife, Christina, in a 1991 fire in California. In his statement to fire investigators then, Karlsen detailed a string of coincidences that led to his wife being trapped in a small bathroom of the old wood mining shack. California authorities have re-opened their investigation into Christina Karlsen's death.

Karlsen told California investigators in 1991 that he had rescued his three children from the blaze --- including Levi, then 5 years old.